Wednesday, May 20, 2009

12:53 PM

U.S Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, and a group of his fellow Republicans in the House and Senate on Wednesday unveiled a comprehensive health care reform bill designed to compete with the proposals being pushed by Democrats.

The Patients' Choice Act includes only one government mandate that all individuals acquire some form of health insurance. But it creates no new government program and was described as adding no additional costs to the taxpayers.

"We're showing that the American people can have a system of universal coverage without the government running it," Ryan said during a Capitol Hill news conference. "If you like (the insurance) you've got, you can keep it, and you'll probably end up with more money in your pocket at the end of the day."

The Patients' Choice Act would create state health care exchanges that allow consumers to pick the private insurer of their choice, while generating tax credits to make coverage more affordable. The bill would also change the rules governing how the uninsured are treated by Medicare, the government-run program that ends up paying the tab for those without insurance.

Democrats in the House are in the process of drawing up a health care reform bill, with tentative plans to bring it to the floor for a vote by the end of July. In the Senate, Democrats and Republicans are engaged in bipartisan negotiations and hope to have a bill supported by both sides of the aisle ready by August.

Major disagreements remain, including how to finance the reform and whether to include a government-run insurance option as a part of the legislation. The Patients Choice Act is not a part of either of these processes.